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“However, both my sister Karen and myself thought it was a good thing. I’m not so sure my brother Neil did but he was young. He was only in his 20s and a young man and you’re not thinking about dying at that age.”

When Judy – who was a nurse – passed away with her loving family beside her it was left to Claire to contact Queen’s Medical Centre.

She said: “Before she died mum kept saying to me, ‘You have to make sure and ring that number on the day I die. It has to be rung on the day otherwise it’s too late’.

“Mum died at 6am the Tuesday morning but we had to wait until after 9am to contact Queens.

“To be honest it’s not so hard to do when it has just happened. You are in autopilot at that stage so you just get on with it. I got through to a lovely gentleman called Ernest who asked certain questions and then said they would take her body and that the undertaker would be in touch.

“When the undertaker arrived they gave us time to say goodbye and then just zipped her in a bag and took her away. That was it, they took her to Belfast.”

Claire Vallelly

Almost a year and a half later, Claire received a bolt from the blue.

She added: “In June 2010, I was on my way to a meeting in Antrim when my mobile rang. I pulled in and the voice said, ‘Hello this is Ernest here’, and that’s when it got me.

“I was really shocked because I had sort of finished with it but I was OK once I composed myself and he said the body is ready for burial.

“You don’t have to have the body back, that’s down to the family, but mum had wanted to be buried beside dad and so a year and a half after she died we held her funeral. With the lapse in time it was more of a celebration of her life rather than grief.

“Mum was a nurse and dad was a doctor. In those days a nurse didn’t have to have qualifications the way they do now and were seen as ‘lesser beings’ than the doctors who had to go to university.

“Mum always talked about her body donation and she always said when she got to heaven and met up with my dad again she would say to him, ‘You’re not the only one that got to Queen’s Medical because I got there too!’”

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While many people would find body donation macabre, Claire believes it is something that needs to be talked about more.

She said: “At no time did I ever think about her being dissected, it didn’t haunt my thoughts.

“It might spook some people and so it needs to be discussed among the family.

“People need to be really sure about body donation. There is no point sending off for a pack, filling it out and returning it and someone in your family getting desperately upset.

“You don’t want people lying in bed thinking what bit are they cutting up today.

“When you see how respectful the students are I am in no doubt it’s a good thing to do. If people talk about it as a family and talk about it as a helpful thing then it’s no different to organ donation.

“It is a great gift to make not to waste your body and it’s a great gift to your family having the funeral costs paid for too because Queen’s pay for all the funeral costs as a thank you for donating the body.

“Ideally I want to be an organ donor. However, if I get some illness or I get too old for organ donation then they can have my body because I’m going to be cremated in the end.